BACKGROUND

William Joseph Marlar comes to us from Burlington, KY. He is 43 y/o as of December 2018.

Marlar has a business selling natural health care products called “Rituals by Nature” and is often speaking at business gatherings in an effort to promote his products. This will be significant later.

In November 2018, as part of a special program focusing on veterans, a radio station invited Will Marlar to come on the show to sing the national anthem. He came dressed in a kilt with some of his Army bling.

Marlar was promoted as a US Army Veteran who served in Kuwait and Bosnia.

An enlarged photo shows his patch of “COMBAT VETERAN – US ARMY”…

On Marlar’s LinkedIn account, he claims that he was a “Sergeant E-5 Ranger Special Teams”…

Then, on Marlar’s Pinterest account, he had a section displaying his motorcycle in front of his business.

Looking at these photos, the first shows his bike parked outside his business. Enlarging the photo, it shows a Ranger Tab on the front of the bike…

In another photo labeled “My rack” he displays US Army medals and badges, seemingly to claim that these were the awards he earned while in the US Army…

Click on the graphic below if you would like to have all of the ribbons and badges explained.

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William Marlar’s military records were requested through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

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FOIA RESULTS

DoD MANPOWER DATABASE

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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY (DoN)

Private (E-1) vs. Sergeant (E-5)

AWOL = Away WithOut Leave

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CRIMINAL CHARGES

More to the story thanks to publicly available information…

Dismissed but most likely plead down to a lesser charge (see below)

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DISCUSSION and SUMMARY

There were several combat claims that were not supported by Marlar’s military records. Recall he wore a combat veteran patch into the radio station. There was also a claim of Kuwait and Bosnia and although not stated directly by Marlar, we wonder how the radio station came to be under that impression to make such a claim? Moreover, why wouldn’t Marlar correct them?

Many of the medals he claims are not supported by his military records.

He went AWOL at the end of his career and was busted to Private (E-1).

He works with veteran groups but wouldn’t they feel violated if they found out that some of his claims are questionable?﻿

This may be a case of stolen valor since Will Marlar is getting something of value from leveraging these claims, especially in regard to his business dealings.

This is all screwed up. Even the Freedom of Info response is wrong. No way he could have a GWOT medal when discharged 3 years before War on Terror started. Also, the Korean Defense Service Medal was approved in 2002, 4 years after his discharge. He is authorized it, but it wouldn’t be in his records 4 years early. His “rack” is a joke. The UN Korea medal he claims wasn’t awarded after 1953. He would have to be 83 or more years old. Most other awards he claims are phony.

ok I will tell you all the whole story… first off I apologize for claiming to be anything that I was not. I have never tried to take any benefits of get any type of assistance or anything so lets get that clear from the start. I started my Military career in the Reserves as a medic. spent a year in the reserves and went active. when I went active they did not have available medic spots so I went active as a Mechanic. my first duty station active was in the MP company in Seoul Korea where I became the company medic and taught combat lifesaver (yes this was registered with the department of defense)upon leaving Korea I was sent to Fort Stewart and I was going great until I decided to marry a woman from home. here is when it when shitty. I reenlisted in GA and selected a change of duty station because Fort Stewart sucked. I was in a chemical company as a mechanic but ended up doing medic stuff there also. after several trips to NTC and Bright Star I was over it and reenlisted to get out of there. when I arrived in Germany I was asked at replacement if I wanted to audition for the chorus, being that it was November I assumed that I would be in a Christmas chorus at my duty station. low and behold because I flew with concurrent travel with my wife and newborn son after 3 days of auditions I was stationed with the 33rd usareur band and chorus in Swetzingen and lived at PHV in Heidelberg. I spent my time singing and traveling all over Europe and yes I did go to Bosnia with the chorus doing shows for the soldiers. I was gone a lot of evenings doing military balls and all kinds of diplomatic events. I have several coins from o6 and above and yes I was loving my career. my wife on the other hand didn’t like being alone with no family or friends while I was working stupid hours at night performing. I requested to get out of the Band so that I could get on a better schedule and was transferred to HHC 44th Signal. everything was going fine until my wife needed to go home because of a tragedy in her family. about a month later I took leave and flew home on leave to collect my family and bring them back. this didn’t go as planned and I missed my flight. I called my unit and explained what had happened and they told me to get to a post sign in and I can go to finance and get an advance to come back… Since Ft Stewart was my last duty station and I had friends there that I could stay with I went there. Ft Stewart was no help. because I didn’t have orders returning me to there and no commander to sign off on anything I was instructed by JAG that I was officially AWOL and that my best bet is to go to Ft Knox and turn myself in and take an article 15. that day when I returned to my friend’s house, my wife had left with my son… I didn’t know how to handle this so I caught a bus with the last money I had and went home to try to fix it. the entire time was in contact with JAG via phone because email and the internet was still very new and was instructed to wait 30 days and turn myself in if getting out was my plan. I was able to fix things with the wife and then went to Ft Knox and turned myself in. My option was take a field grade or request out on a hardship. I did exactly that and was released on a general discharge with less than honorable conditions and was told that I could request to come back in in two years. getting home didn’t go well and my wife became my x and took my son with her. I was ashamed and lost. It was not long after that I found myself on Christmas in the hospital after trying to commit suicide, it was not long after that my parents (step mother, then father) died and I was totally lost in the world. I put myself through school without my GI bill that I had earned in my first enlistment but could not collect and moved on. I served my country to the best of my ability and lost everything. so I started trying to do what I could to stay in my sons life and learn to be an adult civilian. eventually I started trying to support veterans and their families and raise money for them. I never kept anything. Yes I sang on the radio and yes I did not correct any of the information posted. There is so much missing from my DD214 that did not get added in the paper folder days and yes I have claimed more than I should have and there is nothing I can do about that now. Over the years I embellished some and for that I am truly sorry because the shame I felt on how I exited the army was a lot. The question is how does this end? will I still be able to work with groups to raise money to soldiers or veteran causes or will everyone just continue to roast me over coals, causing others to suffer. How do I better serve those I used to call Brothers and those who are getting looked down on and pushed under the rug? How do I fix this? I will never claim to be anything more than I am again, but I am really trying to do good things. You all could help me and then you can watch how I conduct myself or try to ruin what good things I am trying to do. I fucked up and I owe all of you an apology.

So let me ask you something – why are you still lying? You put all those pins on your cut, on your bike and I am sure told stories about your ‘days’ earning them. So do you still wear them – are they still on your bike? You joined at MEPS Cincinnati as a reservist that is why you have DON paperwork in your jacket. Then you went active duty Army. You were not a combat medic you weren’t even a corpsman in the Navy. I also know that no self respecting JAG officer tells you if your already AWOL to stay AWOL. After 30 days the charges change – so any competent JAG officer would have told you to report to your nearest military base – they would have transported you to your duty station of record and punishment then would have ensued. You did not earn the GI Bill because you did not honorably serve your country – or you would have been entitled to those benefits. We in this country still hold a few things sacred and in order to earn Veterans benefits you had to provide honorable service to your country. You continue to dishonor yourself and your country by perpetuating this lie and holding yourself out to be something you are not! Acknowledge that you had a less then stellar military career – that you accomplished nothing but singing in a choir. Those badges and pins you wear men and women died earning and fighting for – you want to take up for Veterans than never again strike the color of our flag – do not associate yourself with the honorable men and women that rightfully deserve recognition for which they have EARNED!